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Nicholas Arndt and Clement Ganino. Pp. 160. Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg. 2012. ISBN 978-3-642-22995-4. Price $89.95. According to the authors, this book was written to provide an introduction to ore deposits and the “geographic, economic and financial elements that influence the viability of a mining operation.” This is a tall order, but a very important one. If we are to continue to produce ores that are needed by a society that is increasingly critical of our activities, then we need geologists who understand all sides of the economic geology business. So, does the book achieve this laudable goal? The answer is “only partly.” It is essentially an abbreviated, traditional text on ore deposits consisting of six chapters, with most of the information on economic and environmental issues in a series of special “boxes.” Chapter 1 (What is economic geology) reviews the use of minerals in society with good graphs of consumption and production through time. Chapter 2 (Classification, distribution and uses of ores and ore deposits) discusses how to classify ore deposits and makes the important point that ore deposits should be studied in the context of geologic processes that form them. Chapter 3 (Magmatic ore deposits), which is the highlight of the book, provides an excellent summary of modern work on magmatic chromite, nickel sulfide, and …

President Enders, members, and guests: It is, indeed, a pleasure to honor Ralph W. Marsden. Ralph Marsden made substantive and long-lasting contributions to our knowledge of Lake Superior region geology, doing so as a professional and as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. It is especially humbling to receive this award here in Minnesota, where Marsden performed so much of his work. The fact that the University of Minnesota-Duluth has now developed the Ralph W. Marsden Chair in Economic Geology further endorses his importance and impact on our chosen career paths in mining geology. Ralph’s contributions to the Society of Economic Geologists, directly in his various volunteer roles for the Society and as professional and faculty member, were broad and substantive; as such, this award in his honor will …

President Franklin, ladies and gentlemen: The Ralph W. Marsden Award was established in 1987 to recognize "outstanding service to the Society" and is awarded to persons that have a record of exceptional stewardship and contributions to Society affairs. It is my honor and pleasure to introduce the recipient of the Society’s Ralph W. Marsden Award for 2001—a very deserving nominee—Paul A. Bailly. For 35 years Paul Bailly has responded to the call and has contributed his time and extraordinary talents in management and organization, much to the benefit of all parts of the Society. His outstanding record of service is based upon at least two principal convictions. First, Paul is a believer in the mission of the Society and strongly advocates that good science is essential to the proper and successful practice of the profession of mineral exploration, and to mining geology. Secondly, he …

The practice of Mining Geology is essentially an engineering enterprise directed to the discovery, exploration and development of mineral deposits. It was so recognized many years ago and has been pursued as such an activity by numerous geologists for over fifty years. However, the the past and present-day geological fraternity, as a whole, has been loath to recognize the inseparable relationship of mining geology and engineering.The comprehensive exploration and discovery of mineral bodies, which by definition is mining geology, is based equally upon: (a) basic training in the sciences of physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology and special knowledge in economic and structural geology; (b) fundamental training in the engineering sciences of mathematics, mechanics, surveying, mining, and mineral dressing.Inasmuch as mining geology is a phase of engineering and has been so described and practiced for many years, the writer recommends that geologists, as a whole, no longer neglect to take action to establish mining geology in its true role as an engineering endeavor.

During the past half-century geology has gained acceptance as a valuable if not indispensable aid in finding and developing orebodies, thanks to improved methods of applying the science as well as to gratifying advances in the science itself. Yet there remain conspicuous gaps in our knowledge even of such fundamental questions as where metals come from and how they got to their site of deposition to form orebodies. Thus two such contrasting processes as the orthodox theory of hydrothermal solutions and the hypothesis of lateral secretion (lately resurrected in a new guise invoking long-range diffusion) can both have serious advocates only because of a lack of factual knowledge of the behavior of metals and other substances at moderately high temperatures and pressures, knowledge that could be made available through adequate research.This is but one example of the kind of background knowledge essential to the development of truly enlightened methods of orefinding but unlikely to be available in time to be useful in replenishing our dwindling ore reserves unless research is intensified beyond the rate of the past half-century.Mining companies, like other progressive corporations, would undoubtedly sponsor additional research if convinced of its ultimate benefit to the industry but geologists will have to point the way.

A limited number of terms of petrology and mineral deposits, both descriptive and genetic in nature, are reviewed and discussed. The writer believes that there is still too much careless and subjective use of terms. This in part arises from the currently sharp separation of practice from theory. The terms stock and batholith are too often used subjectively. Terms defining changes in rocks seem to need clearer definition. The term contact metamorphism is particularly troublesome. In the genetic category hydrothermal and pneumatolytic appear to need clarification.

The cotangent ruler is a device for measuring directly the dip of contoured surfaces, or, conversely, for constructing contours that represent planes of known dip. It greatly simplifies the graphic solution of problems in structural geology, and has several specialized applications to problems commonly encountered in mining geology and areal geologic mapping.

Mining geology has recently been described as a branch of engineering, using in part the "laws" of geology. In contrast to that viewpoint, the present writer holds that the chief value of a mining geologist derives from his use of the best possible geological procedures, whatever the problem. In fact certain aspects of mining geology are properly called research.The recognition of the research aspect and the opportunity to pursue it along with the usual service jobs in mining will attract more good men to the field. This is a challenge to the teacher who wants to place his students and to the company that wants to find more ore.

Recent mining of high-grade Au, Ag, and Cu ore has focused attention on the old Hillsboro, New Mexico, mining district. The examination of old mines and geological study of present operations shows that older development concentrated mainly on oxidized ore with its free-milling Au. Present operations, apparently in the oxidized-primary contact zone, show the mining of primary ore to be now economically feasible, especially with the sporadic occurrence of supergene ore pockets. Geology of the district plus the nature of mineralization is indicative of considerable future economic potential.

In connection with the thesis that the increasing demand for minerals will have to be met more and more by exploration in depth of known ore districts rather than by search for new mineralized areas, urges that the interests of mining geology will best be served if technical reports and studies of mine districts include economic data often regarded as confidential (assays, tonnages, grades) and detailed geologic information.

Coal Geology is conveniently divided into two fields, one which concerns the geology of coal beds, the other the geology of coal itself. In the first field study and research have to do with coal resource and related activities, with mining geology, with the natural history of coal beds; in the second field study is concerned with the botanical, petrographic, and chemical constitution of coal. It is particularly desirable that chemical studies be related to the geological factors that produced coal from precoal material and the subsequent metamorphism of coal. Systematic geological training, instruction, and research in all these branches of coal geology have been much neglected in the academic field.

A program of geological research in support of mineral exploration efforts is out-lined. Specific goals are stated, approaches to accomplish their attainment are described, and the type of useful results to be expected are outlined.Because mineral exploration or prospecting has intensely practical goals, research in support of it must be applied research, applied to the problem of maintaining or increasing the discovery rate of the exploration effort. To attain research goals, attention to personnel selection, group structure, and program are critically important, and in about that order.A large percentage of the professional personnel should have had experience in mining geology or mineral exploration, and they all should be prospector-oriented. Structuring in the group should be at a minimum, with wide allowance for the kind of independent research which is essential to the nurturing of on-target creativity. The program should be field-oriented, and it should include a wide representation of those subdisciplines of geology that are applicable to mineral exploration.The types of results to be anticipated include improved or new conceptual models for various types of orebodies and their settings from which new ore guides can be derived, new exploration techniques, and the development of a knowledge bank for various aspects of the exploration effort.